1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transfer apparatus for transferring a number of objects arranged on a carrier onto another support member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a semiconductor wafer transfer apparatus for transferring a number of objects, e.g. semiconductor wafers, onto another support member at a time has been employed in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus such as a heat treatment apparatus or a washing apparatus.
In this conventional semiconductor wafer transfer apparatus, for example, 25 semiconductor wafers contained in a single carrier are pushed up by a push-up member, and the 25 wafers in the single carrier are chucked by a chuck situated on the upper side. The chucked wafers are transferred.
In the conventional semiconductor wafer transfer apparatus, there is no other choice but to transfer semiconductor wafers in units of, e.g. 25, in each carrier. However, in a heat treatment process, semiconductor wafers of, e.g. four carriers can be batch-treated at a time; in a washing process, wafers of, e.g. two carriers can be batch-treated at a time. Thus, in order to transfer the wafers for a single batch-treatment, it is necessary to repeat the wafer transfer operation a number of times corresponding to the number of carriers containing the wafers to be subjected to the batch-treatment. As a result, the time necessary for the transfer is increased and the treatment throughput is decreased.